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| Titel |
Revisiting satellite derived tropospheric NO2 trends |
| VerfasserIn |
Andreas Richter, Andreas Hilboll, John P. Burrows |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250110649
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-10674.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Nitrogen dioxide levels can be used as tracer of anthropogenic pollution as NOx, the sum of
NO and NO2, is released during fossil fuel combustion. With its short atmospheric lifetime,
atmospheric NO2 can be easily linked to its sources. Using its structured absorption cross
section in the blue spectral region, NO2 amounts can be derived from measurements of
backscattered solar radiation with the help of Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy
measurements.
Satellite retrievals of tropospheric NO2 became possible with the launch of the GOME
instrument in 1995, and since then a series of instruments including SCIAMACHY, GOME-2
and OMI provide spectral data which can be used to quantify NO2 columns in the
troposphere. Using these observations, spatial distributions of NO2, its sources and transport
pathways as well as temporal changes have been investigated over the last years. In
particular the latter have shown remarkable atmospheric developments with large
reductions of NO2 levels in many industrialised countries and dramatic increases in
regions with growing economies, most notably in China but also in many other
countries.
In this study, recent trends of satellite derived NO2 columns are evaluated using data from
all available instruments with a focus on the last years. Combination of data taken from the
two GOME-2 instruments and OMI improves coverage and sensitivity, and also provides
important constraints on the reliability of the satellite data set. As in previous studies, large
changes in NO2 columns are found in many regions, in particular over China where after two
years of stagnating NO2 levels an unexpected substantial reduction is observed for
2014. |
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